You are here

About the performer

Loretta Devine

Equally at home on stage or screen, award-winning actress LORETTA DEVINE (narrating the words of Rosa Parks) has created some of the most memorable roles in theater, film, and television. Devine first captured national attention in the role of Lorrell, one of the three original “dreamgirls” in Michael Bennett’s classic award-winning Broadway musical of the same name. She followed that performance with a fiery portrayal of Lillian in Bob Fosse’s critically acclaimed stage production Big Deal. Subsequent work in George C. Wolfe’s Colored Museum and Lady Day at Emerson Bar and Grill cemented Devine’s status as one of the most talented and versatile stage actresses.

Film roles soon followed, including a poignant turn as a single mother opposite Whitney Houston, Angela Bassett, and Gregory Hines in Waiting to Exhale, which earned her an NAACP Image Award for Best Supporting Actress. Devine also won an Image Award for Best Supporting Actress for her work in Penny Marshall’s The Preacher’s Wife, and an IFP Spirit Award nomination for Best Actress for work in Woman Thou Art Loosed. She was featured in the Academy Award-winning film Crash and the hit movie of Dreamgirls. Additional film credits include appearances in the successful Urban Legend franchise, I Am Sam – opposite Michelle Pfeiffer and Sean Penn, Kingdom Come, What Women Want, Punks, Hoodlums, Down in the Delta, and Stanley and Iris. She also appeared in Sticky Fingers, Amos and Andrew, The Breaks, The Price of Kissing, Lover Girl, Class Act, Living Large, Caged Fear, and Little Nikita. Most recently she co-starred in two Sony Screen Gems films, This Christmas and First Sunday. Both films opened at No. 1 at the box office. Rounding out her 2007 slate of films was the film festival favorite Dirty Laundry. Up next is the 2008 release of Disney’s Beverly Hills Chihuahua, starring Drew Barrymore. Devine voices the character of Delta, a chocolate brown toy poodle.

On television, Devine can be seen in ABC’s mid-season show Eli Stone, as well as her recurring role as Adele on the hit ABC medical drama series Grey’s Anatomy. She received three NAACP Image Awards for her role on David E. Kelly’s Fox series, Boston Public. Additional credits include series roles in A Different World and Lifetime Television’s Wild Card. She also provided the voice of Muriel Stubbs on the beloved animated series The PJs.

Devine graduated from the University of Houston and later received a Master of Fine Arts in Theatre Arts from Brandeis University. She currently resides in Los Angeles.